Category: Mannequin Coordinations

Outfit of the Week: Mystery Dragonflies!

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While folding and organising some of my older kimono the other day, I came across something that threw me for a loop. I do not remember procuring this kimono in any way. I don’t know if I bought it, if it was a gift, something I rescued from a thrift store… I really have no idea. In my dozen-plus years of collecting, I can tell you where nearly every piece in my collection came from, down to things like tabi and haneri. To have forgotten an entire (lovely!) kimono is quite a feat, I think.

That being said, I’m not complaining! This is a gorgeous piece. It’s a casual summer piece, very lightweight. I’m not positive on the fabric but it feels like a linen blend of some sort. It might be cotton, but it’s definitely softer and more refined than a yukata. The collar is conveniently sewn down and there is a light lining in the bum area and across the shoulders for cleanliness and reinforcement. It’s a beautiful dove grey with dusty blue foliage and adorable little dragonflies. The era is a bit hard to pin-point; it feels like it could be quite old, or it could be more modern but made to look vintage.

I wanted to make the coordination very cool and comfortable-feeling, so I kept things simple with a hanhaba obi. I also learnt a valuable lesson – this particular obi, while one of my favourites, is a finicky little thing that refuses to hold tight. I managed to get the kai-no-kuchi musubi to stay in place with the help of an obijime, but would not be comfortable wearing it out of the house like this. At least I know for the future!

Items used in this coordination

Gofuku no Hi, a day late and a dollar short.

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Yesterday, May 29, was  着物着ます (Gofuku no Hi), or Wear Kimono Day. It is a day to encourage kimono enthusiasts around the world to get out and wear kimono and have fun. Unfortunately, yesterday was an absolute no-go for me. I had work, I wasn’t feeling well to begin with, and it was incredibly hot and humid. So I decided to dress Tsukiko today instead.

I have been dying to pair this basho (banana leaf) houmongi and kikyou hakata obi for years now, and just never found the right opportunity until now. This kimono is one of the few that actually still fits me properly, but it’s still much more comfortable for me to dress the mannequin. I absolutely love the hints of icy blue in the leaves on the kimono and decided to accessorise in the same colour, to emphasise the cool feeling. I love how this outfit turned out, nearly monochrome but with the hits of blue for punch.

Outfit of the Week: Graduation Style!

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First of all, sorry for the lapse in posts! My laptop was out for repairs due to a faulty connector cable between the body and the screen, but it’s back now, which means I can resume semi-regular content updates 🙂

For this week, I decided to try my hand at a traditional graduation-style outfit of furisode and hakama. This particular furisode stirs up a lot of conflicting feelings for me. It was one of the first kimono I bought, despite technically being too old to wear it even back then. I also bought it while visiting someone who was very important to me during that phase of my life. We haven’t spoken in years, and the kimono still reminds me of that trip, but I was hoping doing something fun with it would help me distance myself from the awkward memories.*

Wrangling Tsukiko into the hakama proved a lot more difficult than I expected, and she looks a little rumpled, but the outfit still turned out pretty fantastic, I think. Unfortunately, for some reason, the date-eri looked INCREDIBLY NEON PINK in the photos, no matter what I did with lighting and then later in post-processing. I edited the photos to be a little more accurate. They’re still not perfect, but they are a better representation of the ensemble.

Items used in this coordination

*Update if anyone is curious, after some upheaval we’re closer than ever now. Maybe this was cathartic to the universe somehow.

Outfit of the Week: Tokaido Formal

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Those of you who have been with me for a while probably already know about my obsession with all things relating to the 53 Stations of the Tokaido. I found this kurotomesode online several years ago, and desperately had to have it. It’s far too small for me, the silk is fairly fragile, and it’s way too formal for me to have worn anywhere anyway. And yet, here it is.

Technically, this sort of kimono needs an obi that’s primarily white and metallic, and a white obiage and obijime. However, I have this absolutely stunning gold-based Tokaido obi that Suara from the IG forums bought for me when I was in a bad place. It’s one of my most favourite pieces, both aesthetically and sentimentally, and I thought it would be absolutely perfect with this kimono. It’s also an utter joy to tie – stiff enough to keep its shape but not stiff enough to fight me. And no matter who or what I tie it on, I nearly always end up with one perfectly framed design on the drum. It’s a magical obi! I thought my gold and olive obijime and sky-blue obiage complemented the set quite perfectly too.

Items used in this coordination

Outfit of the Week: Summer Love

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For this week’s outfit, I decided to throw caution to the wind. The previous ensembles I’ve posted haven’t necessarily been 100% season-accurate, but this one is by far the most inappropriate for this time of year. It’s been in the negative degrees all week here, and my back deck looks like this right now.

I needed something to remind  me that it won’t be like this all year, so I decided to do a breezy summer coordination. This blue ro tsukesage is one of the last things I purchased before my health really fell apart, and I’d never had the chance to wear it, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I had initially planned to pair it with my off-white sha hakata obi, but the then I found this hitoe hakata with touches of pink that echoed the pink flowers on the kimono so well. It’s technically a little thick to wear with such a lightweight kimono, but it’s borderline and I figured since I was only dressing Tsukiko I could get away with it. I think this outfit has a lovely refreshing cool feel to it with the icy blue and white, with the hits of a cool-toned pink to liven it up a little.

Please ignore the weirdly lopsided otaiko, I pulled it out of place slightly while rotating the mannequin and didn’t realise until after I’d taken the photos. ~.~;;

Items used in this coordination